Video: Water bucket douses crying infant at splash pad

Child welfare officials are investigating a babysitter after a video showed her placing a 7-month-old baby under a water-dump bucket at a splash park in Greenwood.
Provided to IndyStar by Desiree Howell

Screenshot of a video showing a crying baby being drenched with massive water bucket at a splash park in Greenwood.(Photo: Video provided to IndyStar by Desiree Howell)

Child welfare officials are investigating a baby sitter after a video showed her placing an infant underneath a water-dump bucket at the Greenwood splash pad.

A video posted to Facebook by another mom shows the baby sitter setting 7-month-old Annora Anderson directly underneath a bucket that dumps gallons of water. After water cascades, the baby appears to be shaking and can be heard crying.

"Every cell in my body wanted to go grab that baby and keep her safe but the way people are these days you never know what could have happened," Howell told IndyStar in a message via Facebook.

Howell said the baby sitter placed Annora underneath the bucket several times before Howell finally called police. Howell, who was with her own children at the park on Wednesday, said she pulled out her phone and recorded the video while waiting for officers to arrive.

Howell said she watched the baby sitter make the child walk on hot pavement, swing her too high and put the baby's face directly in a sprinkler.

Howell posted the video because she was hoping to identify the baby sitter and pass the information along to police. The video spread quickly, and it took about two hours for Facebook users to discover the woman's name.